Survival
by heartofdixon
Summary: No one imagined this would happen. No one planned on losing their loved ones. No one thought that they would need to be in survival mode every day of their lives, and after everything that has happened, certainly no one thought they would ever see the people they cared about again, but would it be better to just continue thinking they are gone?
1. 1 Finding Safety

**Obviously I do not own walking dead. I previously had a story called candle blew out, but I decided to scrap it and start something similar, but just a tad bit better.**

**I would appreciate feedback; it's been a while since I have written. My goal is to write a chapter every day until the show comes back on, so I will hopefully have this finished before that.**

_It was one of those warm southern nights. You know the ones they sing about in country__ songs. Where they describe the stars to be the brightest they've ever seen, and the moon light shining over a peaceful lake is the most relaxing part of their summer. No one would have ever suspected the world would turn into such a dead, decaying waste land like it did, but during this time there were no dead folks walkin around, causing chaos. Just the drunks at the local dive bar, tripping over bar stools and stumbling over words. That's what this town was filled with; drunken hillbillies with nothing better to do but cause trouble. Most nights everyone in this 5 mile long town could hear the glass breaking in the dark and dingy alleyway behind the watering hole, or the elder bartender/ owner cussin and kicking the hooligans out. Usually it was just two drunk assholes fighting over some snotty slut. This night in particular, however, had great meaning. Maybe not to everyone, but to one person it did._

"_Ho hooo my brother, this place is packed tonight inn' it?" Merle Dixon shouted with a mischievous smile over the loud music playing from the juke box mixed with the crowd of the only bar in their small hick town, in the middle of nowhere Georgia. _

_ "prolly cause it's the only bar in this piece o' shit town, ever think a that?"Daryl replied in a jokingly rude manner, setting the pitcher of bud on the old, round wooden table towards the back of the bar where they always seem to sit at. He poured himself a tall glass, let out a sound of satisfaction, and allowed his eyes to wander around the bar, noticing all the people his pig of a brother was talking about. All the girls from the local salon were out tonight. Young little things, pounds of make-up and hairspray, the only item of clothing on their bodies that actually served its purpose was their knee-high cowboy boots._

"_I bet you ten bucks and a switch blade I can get one of dem fine lil things to come back with and show daddy a good time, know what m sayin, ha ha" Merle challenged taking a swig from his beer, keeping his eyes on one of the bleach blonde bimbos at the bar, tossing her hair around and swaying her hips, asking men to buy her drinks with her body. Daryl choked on his beer and laughed at Merles comment._

"_no offense brother but you ain't exactly what them little chickens are lookin for, neither of us is." Daryl said, slightly laughing as he set his beer down on the table to refill it._

"_yeah, well wer just see bout that now won' we?" with that merle chugged his beer and got up to go lay down some moves on one of the intoxicated stellas, unaware the only way to get Merle Dixon to back down would be with pepper spray or if a big boyfriend appears out of nowhere (which surprisingly happens a lot to Merle). _

"_have at it brother, good luck" Daryl jokingly raised his glass to Merle as he walked off. Sighing, Daryl gave the bar a good look around. It was the same as he had always remembered, old newspaper clippings on the wall, pictures of family and friends of the town, and deer heads from past hunting triumphs. This was where he spent a lot of his time. It was here or the Shop he worked at, fixing cars people are just gonna break again anyways. Merle had a bad habit of pissing everyone off in the town, but not Daryl. No one really noticed Daryl, they were too busy dealing with Merle and their father, who was just as bad._

"_Daryl?" He was snapped back into reality, unaware he had been glaring at the pitcher of beer in front of him. He looked up while taking a drink, there was a girl standing in front of him. She had deep green eyes, and Pitch black hair that flowed down in light curls to her butt. Her skin was soft looking and slightly more pale than most people in the town, and her lips were a perfect pink. She wore a tight black tank top, which showed just the right amount of cleavage. Her daisy dukes were washed out and faded, but holding her bottom half perfectly, with the help of a studded belt. _

_Daryl choked a little on his beer when he realized who was saying his name. _

"_jesus Christ, what the hell happened to ya? Ya look like one of 'em chickenheads Merles getting slapped by" He exclaimed, wiping his mouth of beer as he nodded over to his brother at the bar, who had just gotten a drink thrown in his face and slapped. _

"_oh god really? I'd like to think I have more class than them." She said with a hint of worry in her voice, she pulled a chair out from the table and sat down across from Daryl._

"_Haha don' worry bout it baby sister, you're a classy broad." Daryl said and he held his glass up, ready to cheers her, she glared at him for his last comment, but brought her bottle to the air and clinked it against her brothers glass._

"_well well well what we got here now? The little Dixon, well now, I never thought id see ya again darling" Merle was back from getting turned down, fanning out his shirt with his hand but acting as though he his dirty beater wasn't covered in pink girly drink. He sat down between them, but not before giving his sister a kiss on the head._

_The little Dixon looked at her eldest brother and snorted. "pink is a good color on you Merle." Her and Daryl chuckled as they both took a drink while receiving death glares from their brother._

Daryl awoke with a start. He looked over to see Beth still sleeping in the other seat of the short school bus they had managed to find. It had been about 3 days since the prison was taken down by the governor. Their group was separated, and right now it was just him and Beth. The group had come up with a plan, just in case something like this was to happen. Only thing was there were so many walkers that Daryl and Beth were unable to Get to the meet up area. Daryl suggested that they get to safe grounds and then figure out a plan to find the rest of the group. To Daryls surprise Beth was very calm about the situation, she had just watched her father get murdered, and now she has been separated from her sister. She wasn't very good with a gun or a knife because she took care of Judith most of the time, but she was still staying strong and keeping focused, for that Daryl was thankful. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, looking around. It was still dark out, but the moon was bright enough to see his surroundings outside the abandoned bus. The air was still, and the trees were quiet. He got up as stealthily as he could, trying not to wake Beth, and headed outside the bus. The windows in this bus that were still intact were covered in filth, making it hard to see in or out of, but the windows that were missing made it easy to see if the coast was clear or not. Daryl had made a makeshift safe door for the bus out of the leftovers of other cars around them. This wasn't the safest place for them to be, but they were far enough from the walkers that they would be able to spend the night here. Daryl exited the bus and pulled out an old pack of cigarettes. He pulled one of the sticks out and put it in his mouth, thinking of the dead body he found them on when he cleared out the bus. He paced around the bus as he smoked the cigarette, trying to think of what they were going to do come morning. He wasn't sure when the herd of walkers that overtook the prison would catch up, or if they had become distracted by something else. For the first time since the apocalypse started Daryl felt a little bit helpless, this all happened so fast, it was just now completely sinking in. His group he had been with for nearly all of this was no longer. He didn't know who was alive still, he didn't know where they were. Hershel was killed right in front of all of them, neck hacked. The memory started to play over in his head. He stopped his pacing and leaned against the bus, sliding down it into a kneel and putting his head in his hand. He began to take deep breaths. _We can do this._ He thought. Taking a few more deep breaths, he realized that it wasn't working at let out an angry and frustrating sigh, threw the cigarette butt to the ground and went back inside the bus, hoping to fall back asleep. Having no energy was the last thing he needed right now.

*the next day*

Daryl awoke to the sun in his eyes, barely beaming in from one of the dirty windows. He immediately looked over to see if Beth was still there, but she was gone. Seeing this cause him to shoot up and head towards the makeshift door.

"Beth!" he shouted before he got the door open. "Beth!" he shouted again the second he got out of the bus and into the street.

"Over here." she said, coming out from around the bus, as though she had just come from the trees. She had a hubcap full of different berries in one hand, along with a big knife in the other. "I thought I'd find us something to eat, to keep our strength up." She said softly, unsure of how Daryl would react to her choices. He let out a sigh of relief and walked towards her, stopping directly in front of her he looked at her as though he was about to rip her a new asshole. Instead he looked at the berries, and grabbed a strawberry that was sitting right on top.

"Good lookin out" he said biting into the strawberry. Heading over to the bag he was able to grab when things went to hell at the prison. Before the prison went down, the council made emergency bags; Grabbing multiple copies of maps from travel centers, extra flashlights, ammo, weapons, and even a little food, anything that they may need to stay alive in an emergency. Each map had the same area circled on it, the second area for safety. He looked around, deciding which direction they would need to go to get there. According to the angle of the sun he was able to tell that it was only 9am, or around that time. It was early, and they had a lot of day light ahead of them. He sighed, they had to keep moving, and they needed a faster way to get around than walking. He wondered if maybe, just maybe, one of these abandon vehicles still worked. But he wouldn't be able to check them all by himself.

He walked over to the closet car and sat in the drivers seat. "Hey beth, com'er fer a sec." he said, busting off the hunk of plastic that hides all the wires inside the car.

"yeah?" she said walking to where he was. "uh, Daryl, what're you doing?" she said in a concerned voice, slightly uneasy.

"we need ta get outa here, now. And we can't keep on walkin, more of geeks will catch up, and we are low on all our supplies. So-" he paused, pulling two wires apart " – I'm gall our supplies. So-" he paused, pulling two wires apart " – I'm gon teach ya how to hotwire a car, n ur gon help me find one that works."

She looked at him with wide eyes, as though she never thought that she would ever be capable of doing such a thing, that look quickly faded when reality came over her. "okay" she said. Daryl looked up at her and then had her get in the passenger seat. He then told her which wires to touch together to get the car to start. Unfortunately the car he was using as an example did not start, but luckily Beth understood what he was saying. They began to try every car near the bus they were stationed at. There had to be at least 12 cars in the area. _One of them has to work. _Daryl thought as he was testing his third car.

"Daryl! Daryl! I- I think this one works!" beth called out, as she was trying to spark the car to life. Sure enough there were actual sparks, daryl saw this and slightly shoved Beth out of the way "lemme see it" he said aimlessly as he began to try to bring the car to life. "Give er some gas would ya Beth?" Daryl asked as he sparked the wires together. The engine roared up, sputtering but staying on.

"this bad boys got over half a tank too, lets do this." Daryl said as they both sprinted back to the bus to grab their items. After going over the bus to make sure any needed items weren't left they turned to head back to the new vehicle, only to see that the herd of walkers they were running from had finally caught up to them, and were only 4 cars behind their beloved wheels. "we gotta run to that car now Beth, RUN!" and they did. Daryl managed to get the car into drive right as the closest walker hit the trunk, and then the herd was history.

Beth was looking back at the zombies with a smile on her face, she turned back and let out a smile laugh and looked at Daryl, he looked at her with his normal serious face, and she turned back to face the front.

"we're gonna see them again daryl, we are. I can feel it." she stated, still looking forward with a grin on her face.


	2. 2 A Hint of the Past

** Hurrraayyy for chapter 2! Like I said, I appreciate feedback. I know it's only the second chapter and kind of hard to tell where this is going, but it's going somewhere awesome. I hope :P again I am going to try to add a chapter every day. So please keep reading!**

Their safe spot was an old storage area towards the edge of a town west of Atlanta. It was fenced in, and they had previously taken out any of the walkers that were residing inside it. It wasn't as covered as the prison was, but it would be a good place to stay for a few days when trying to meet up with your group. Daryl and Beth had been sitting at this Storage unit for a day now. They broke open one of the boxes and managed to make a decent sleeping area out of it. The area was still walker free, which means the group did a great job of making it secure. While waiting around they opened a few units to see if anything was of use, finding nothing they could use on the road they began to find things to make the unit they were staying in more comfortable.

"good thing these people musta got booted or sumthin. " Daryl heaved as he carried a mattress to their area, then walking back to grab the second one. "We got something nice to sleep on why wer here." Beth smiled at him as she grabbed the pillows and blankets from the air tight storage bags they were folded in.

While she was pulling the blankets out of the overstuffed back a brown wicker box fell from the box it was sitting on behind the blanket bag. Beth stopped pulling on the blanket and set the bag to the side, bending her knees, she lowered herself to where the box had fallen. The lid was attached by two small pieces of ribbon from the back, and the box looked as though it was hand-made. She curiously opened it, only to find a few family photos, along with some old jewelry. She set the box down and pulled out the pictures and looked through them. She would Smile at the one of the silly dog, in the middle of rolling over. Then she would laugh at the picture of a little boy crying because he has birthday cake smashed in his face. When she came to a family picture; of two sisters, a brother, and loving looking parents tears began to form in her eyes. She had been trying so hard to not think about Maggie, or her father. She let the picture fall out of her hands as she began to sob, unable to stop herself from doing so. She crouched down and let her butt hit the floor. Wrapping her arms around her legs and pulling them close she began to cry into her lap uncontrollably. She didn't know if she was going to see her sister again, or glen. She was never going to see her father again, and the image of his death would replay over and over again in the back of her mind. All she wanted was her sister, someone who understands how she felt, someone to grieve with.

Daryl was walking back to the storage unit to see if there was anything else they needed in it, considering it was packed from top to bottom with random household things. He was getting closer when he heard Beth sobbing, his walk turned to a jog as he hurriedly went to go see what was wrong with her. He turned into the storage unit to find Beth on the ground. Not really knowing what to do he slowly walked up to her and kneeled down to her level, placing a hand on her back to let her know he was here for her. Beth slowly turned into him and threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder. Daryl, slightly shocked because he was not expecting that reaction, slowly wrapped his arms around her into a warm and caring hug. He petted her hair and kissed her cheek as she continued to cry. He continued letting her know that he wasn't going to let anything happen to her, and that Maggie and Glen were just as strong, and they were going to make it. When she calmed down he walked with her back to where they were staying and set up her bed with the sheets and blankets. Before Beth had her melt down, they had found some lanterns in one of the other units, along with a bunch of extra batteries and flashlights, which was good because their flashlights had just died.

They had decided when they arrived at the storage area, and realized that their group was nowhere to be seen, that they would leave a message on a car, like they had once done for Sophia. This time they wrote it down on multiple cars, not knowing which way any one of the members would come from. The only thing they wrote on the cars were "In the Coop,- B.D" Hoping that they would understand the initials and put two and two together. This was actually Beths idea, She had brought up the excellent point that there are other survivors out there, and they have yet to seem as understanding as their own group. Beth had also insisted that they try to go to the outskirts of the storage area when they got a chance to, just in case they spot them before they spot the message. Beth, after calming herself, continued to look through different units, but agreed to not open any sentimental looking boxes.

"Daryl.." Beth asked quietly, looking down at the small fire they had managed to start and keep under control with a portable fire pit they found in a unit. The sun had set, and the air was getting cold. Daryl and Beth had set up an empty storage unit as a living corner. They had found a table, a few chairs, the fire pit, mattresses with blankets, pillows, and even a Chinese room divider, which was used in case the one of them was changing. They had left the door to their unit open, allowing the little amount of smoke from the fire out, but they had used old blankets to create a curtain, just in case.

"ya." He replied shortly, slowly eating his portion of the canned beans they had managed to find.

"How long are we gonna wait here until we start moving again?" she questioned, still looking at the fire, without blinking. She had a quilt wrapped around her, sitting at the edge of her bed, across from daryl.

Daryl stopped eating his meal, and thought about his answer. "4 days. 3 countin this one." He head shot up and she stared at him. " Is that alrigh' wit you?" he looked her in the eyes. She lightly nodded "yes." She looked away toward the crack between the wall and the blanket curtain, stars were out. "That's perfect." She really did think it was perfect. It's a good number. Not too long, but not giving up right away.

*flashback*

_There was a bad thunderstorm outside. The wind was causing a damp draft to come through the cracks in the windows. Buckets and pans were scattered throughout the house, catching the rain drop that fell from the holes in the roof. Lightening was cracking all around the old beat up trailer. It was about 11:30pm, the dim lights inside the hazardous home were flickering. There was a small 90s style radio sitting on the countertop of the old, out of date, sorry excuse for a kitchen fading in and out of signal as a faint "Mr. Sandman" was attempting to play. There, on the floor of the dusty and withering living room, was a little 6 year old Riley Dixon, playing with her tattered raggedy Ann and faded wooden building blocks._

_Now if a stranger was to stumble apon the Dixon residence, they would think they had just walked onto a set of a southern chainsaw horror movie. This home, if anyone considered it a home, was a complete mess. There were holes in the screens of the door and windows, caused by what were hopefully only moths. The screen door leading inside the house was partially unhinged, and would always swing open and close when the wind was blowing hard. The yard looked something like a junk yard would. Dead and torn apart cars scattered randomly with their insides torn out and thrown everywhere. Trash was piled up in different areas. From the look of the outside, one would never expect a 6 year old to live in this house, let alone be able to survive in this type of environment. The mess didn't end here though, the inside was just as bad. There were water stains on the walls and ceilings, mold growing within the cracks of the thin broken walls. Most of the food in the fridge was spoiled, adding the sick smell of rot to the smell of old beer and cigarettes that the house had already smelled of. Beer cans, liquor bottles, and empty nicotine packs were everywhere. Old t.v. dinner trays lay on tables, gathering small amounts of maggots and flies._

"_What the hell?" the door swung open, and in trudged a soaking wet, 16 year old Daryl Dixon. Noticing his little sister was all alone he set his hunting bag next to the door and made his way over to Riley and picked her up._

"_Where's pops at sweetheart?" he questioned in a caring voice, knowing her mom had left a month prior on some heroine binge. _

"_Iono" Riley responded as she played with the neckless around Daryls neck, not really worried about where her father was. Daryl carried his little sister to the kitchen where he set her down on the counter top next to the radio._

"_Have you eaten N'thing today Ry?" she shook her head no. " well then wer just gon have to change that right now rnt we?"_

_Riley smiled cheesily at him. "Cookies!" she shouted, throwing her arms up in the air as though she has just scored the final touchdown._

"_haha I dun think its gon be cookies darling, how about spaghetti-os?" she agreed and Daryl pulled out an old beat up can of the only meal they could really afford and began to cook as he made small talk with his little sister. _

"_Has pops been here at all?" he questioned, glancing at while continuing to stir her food._

"_Nope!" she said in an upbeat voice, unaware of how awful her living situation is. "Linda stoppeded by, she give-ed me a sucker!" Riley said excitedly as she pulled a sucker from the front pocket of her worn out overalls and showed Daryl her present. He looked over at her only to notice a bruise on her little arm she was holding out. The only way anyone could have a bruise like that on their arm would be if someone had grabbed them and squeezed it._

_Daryl smiled at her half heartedly. He hated his father. To Daryl, his father was the biggest piece of shit in the world. Daryl always avoided coming back to this place, ever since his mom died things with his father only got worse. His mom was alright, she cared behind closed doors, but when it came to disagreeing with his father, she kept her mouth shut and fought back tears as her husband took his anger out on his two boys. Daryl usually stayed in the woods, spending most of his time out hunting while his father wasn't paying attention. Tonight was different, the rain was so bad that it drove Daryl to go back home, that and he wanted to check if Riley was okay. Normally he didn't worry, because when things would get out of hand and his father would be so angry to the point that he would lay his hands on Riley, Her mother would usually drunkenly step in swinging her arms everywhere, usually saying something about "hitting her precious angel" 'Yeah, precious angel you rarely acknowledge'. Daryl thought._

_Rileys mom was no longer here, and no one knew when she would be back. Daryl did not like the thought of Riley only being with their father. Merle was always around, which is why Daryl didn't worry. But this time Merle wasn't here either, he was in jail for stealing a car. _

_Daryl tucked Riley into bed, read her all time favorite story "Hansel and Gretel" and closed the door as she drifted into a much needed sleep._

_Then he waited. He waited for the man he despised the most to come home, and he wasn't going to leave without giving him a piece of his mind. Daryl was heated, enraged. He was in over his head that is for sure, for a 16 year old Daryl was no present day Daryl. He just didn't understand how someone could be that big of a shithead. He didn't understand how someone who is suppose to me a man could harm such a small fragile thing. His own daughter even. Daryl had these thoughts rolling through his head since he put Riley to sleep. His knuckles were turnings white from how hard he was squeezing his fists. Just then the door handle began to jiggle. Daryl just sat there on the stool, staring down at the counter, fists still tight. His drunk father stumbled in, nearly falling face first. _

"_oh, 'ts you. Fuck you doin just sittin there boy, go make yerself useful, ya good for nothing shit" _

_Daryl ignored his comment. "The fuck is wrong with you?" Daryls eyes slowly turned, landing on his father, whos expression was slightly shocked, but quickly changed to completely Furious._

"_the fuck u just say to me boy?" His father stood up straight. Standing directly in front of Daryl._

"_What the fuck is your problem jus leav'n Ri-" before Daryl could finish is sentence came to an abrupt stop when the back of his fathers hand connected with the side of his face._

"_Now you listen here boy, don you EVER speak ta me that damn way again, ya hear me? I'll beat ya down boy, ill beat ya down." His father was right in Daryls face, looking directly into his eyes, well trying to at least. He stood up and walked towards the fridge to grab a beer, the only edible thing in there. Daryls eyes did not follow his father, he continued to stare straight ahead, thoughts of every single time this man had caused pain were racing through his mind. His eyes began to water out of pure anger, able to hold back his tears he took a deep breath and turned his head to his father. Looking toward the door he saw an old wooden plank that had the light of the gods shining down on it, in Daryls mind. He snuck across to it as his father continued to rummage through the fridge. Quickly Daryl grabbed the plank and walked toward his father._

"_Hey scum bag." His father turned to his direction preparing to say something threatening when WHAM! Daryl swung the wood across his fathers face, causing him to stumble to his left. Daryl swung again only on the opposite side, knocking his father to the right. Daryl went to swing again only this time, his father was able to stop the wood from hitting him with his slightly oversized arm, and that's when is fathers fist collided with Daryls face. From then on the wooden plank was his fathers weapon._

_Daryl awoke in the hospital 4 days later to see the face of Rileys Mother; immediately asking why Daryl had to be so stupid, Merle; shaking his head and smirking down at him, and then a little Riley; looking down at the ground quietly, a small little tear rolled from her slightly bruised eye._

_*end flashblack*_


	3. 3 Life savers

**Hey look a third chapter. **

**I want to say thank you to those of you who have stuck through this and kept reading. I am back in my composition class now that winter break is over and it is inspiring me a bit more than I was originally. Like I said it has been a long time since I have written anything. So thank you! 3**

It was the third day of them being there. The sun was bright and the sky was a clear blue. Most people before finding live people became difficult, would say that it would be nearly impossible to be sad on such a beautiful day, but Beth was slowly losing hope of ever seeing her sister and friends again. After her breakdown she decided to listen to what Daryl had said; that her sister and Glen WERE strong enough to make it out of there. They could be pulling up any second inside that old beat up safety bus with the rest of the group. But today she didn't feel that way. She didn't look towards the entrance of the Storage area, hoping to see a gang of armed familiar faces walking up with a smile of relief. She didn't break the silence between her and Daryl and ask him where he thought they were. She had given up, and was ready to push the sadness out of her mind and find a safer place to reside, or so she tried. The second day they decided to go outside the storage area to see what exactly was around them. Unfortunately the only thing they found were walkers, slowly but surely staggering toward the storage unit. The farther they went out the most the realized that the storage unit wasn't going to be safe for very much longer. Walkers were beginning to come of hiding, at first it was only one or two, but then it became 10, and finally there were so many walkers that Beth and Daryl had to hide just so they wouldn't become dinner for the undead. So when the sun rose on the third day they decided they were going to pack everything they needed and get the hell out of there.

Coming to the storage unit wasn't an entire waste of time; they found a lot of useful things that they were able to take with them. They were even able to find some old left over gas in the main garage of the business, along with a working business car. "Hit the squirrel on the head." As Daryl said when they stumbled across the old transportation van. They had moved the van closer to their unit, opening the back door to the vehicle, allowing them to pack as much stuff in it as they needed. To their advantage one of the units they had opened up must of belonged to an old hunter, because it was filled with survival gear; knives, guns, pots and pans for fires, sleeping bags, a camo tent with 4 sectioned off rooms, building tools, and just about anything else you could think of, the only down part is that none of the guns had ammo. Luckily enough there were other units with ammo in them, just no guns of any sort. The spent the day gathering anything else they could, and packing all their bags in the car. The time, if they were to have a watch, would have said that it was about 5:12pm. The sun would be setting soon, and they needed to get a move on if they wanted to avoid the slow approaching herd that was heading toward them.

Daryl was finishing adjusting the bags in the back so he would be able to fit anything else if necessary. "You bout ready?" he shouted to Beth, but not turning away from the van. He waited for a few minutes and heard no response. "Be-"he stopped as he turned around, only to be pushed against the back of the van by a very quiet walker. Using one hand to keep the monster from digging his disgusting rotted teeth into his flesh, he reached into the back of his ripped jeans for his switch blade. Feeling the sweet metal in his hand he pulled it out as fast as he could, pulling the zombies head back by its matted hair, he thrusted the knife into his head from the bottom of his chin. Pushing the zombie out of the way he darted inside toward the entrance of the unit him and Beth were sharing. There was no sign of her. He darted back out and looked right toward the car, and just as he was about to look left he heard a scream.

"BETH!" He shouted to the air looking above the units, as he turned to his left he noticed 3 walkers coming his direction from around the corner of the storage container, 5 units down.

"DARYL!" he heard her, and it sounded as though she was a ways in front of him. Darting the opposite way of the walkers he ran to where he thought he heard Beth scream.

"BETH!" he shouted again, in a different isle of containers, turning around in all directions as if he would hear where she was coming from better. Walkers were coming from different corners of units in front of him; he was guessing that direction was toward the entrance. They must have underestimated the speed of the walkers; they weren't expecting them to be here until the evening of the next day. _ Something musta got them excited. _ Daryl thought

"BETH!" He shouted again, backing away from the direction of the geeks.

"DARYL!" he hears her again, only this time she sounded right around the corner. He ran a few more units down and turned left around a corner. Coming to the next isle he looked both ways, deciding which one would take him to Beth. He heard what sounded like a body drop to his right, so he headed that way only to find an open storage container. Inside was Beth, holding a knife with both hands and covered in blood which must have belonged to the walker on the ground.

"We gotta go." Daryl grabbed her hand and sprinted out of the unit. They dodged a walker in a gas station uniform just in time. The storage area was like a giant maze. Unit after unit, row after row, isle after isle, they began to run to where they thought was the main garage in the back of the building. Reaching the door to the office that was attached to the garage, Daryl and Beth ran inside. Daryl slammed the door shut and began shoving Items in the room in front of it, from fallen book shelves to the old desk and chair.

Barricaded in the abandon room, Daryl and Beth began to collect their thoughts as the dead banged and rattled the room from outside.

"We have to find a way out of here!" Beth shouted in terror as she frantically looked around the room for something that could possibly help them survive.

They were running out of time. The makeshift blockage wasn't a very good match for the 30 rotted corpses pushing against the door, desire for flesh their only motivation.

"Over here!" Daryl shouted, noticing a door hidden behind a separate filing cabinet. Just as he swung the door open and allowed Beth to go through the barricade began to slide away from the door, dead arms of the vicious dead began to feel their way inside. Swinging the door shut behind them they began to let their eyes adjust to the new surroundings. The door had lead to the garage, which they had already taken everything they thought they needed out of it the previous day.

Daryl noticed a little light coming through a piece of cloth hanging on the wall on the opposite side of the room. He rushed over there and hopped onto the built in shelf that it was above. Pulling down the cloth he had found a window. The sun outside was slowly disappearing under the trees of the horizon. He attempted to open it but unfortunately it did not open. Looking around the room for something he could use, he saw a wrench hidden underneath a stack of old news papers on the bottom of a work bench Beth was frantically in the process of pulling in front of the door.

"AYE! Toss me that wrench under there!" Daryl motioned to the stack of newspapers. Beth gave the bench one last good pull and retrieved the wrench and threw it to Daryl.

Smashing the window within seconds of catching the wrench, he tossed it outside for future use. Lifting up Beth and helping her through the window, he heard the sound of scraping behind him. The walkers must have already gotten through the first door, now they were beginning to make their way into the garage. Dead hands were beginning to make their way through the small crack, causing the flesh to rip off their fragile bones.

"Daryl hurry!" Beth shouted from outside the window, as she stared down 3 walkers coming around the corner from outside the storage unit. Her knife was at the ready, but her mind was not sure what she was going to do. Daryl jumped down from the window panel, grabbing the wrench he threw. All he wanted was his bow, but due to the sudden ambush he was left with nothing.

Beth and Daryl were now trapped in a dead end. Because the main garage was in the back, there was no way to go past it; they were at the edge of the once protected area with three hungry walkers backing them into the fence.

"What're we gonna do?" Beth panicked, looking for Daryl for the answer. The walkers staggered toward them; leaving them only just a few meters from the fence.

"There's only three of 'em" Daryl said, readying his wrench. "We can take em out no problem." But he had spoken too soon. There were three more walkers coming around the same corner as the previous ones. "We gotta do this now" Daryl said, and with that he kicked the closest walker back, and brought his wrench down on the second walker to the right of him. Beth, to his left, let the third walker get a little close to her until she was comfortable with stabbing him through the neck to the head, him dropping to the ground after letting out on last growl. The walker Daryl had kicked was making her way back, dirty powder pink dress dragging on the ground, a look of angry hunger in her old color drained eyes. He took her out with ease as the three other walkers began to get closer and closer. Beth and Daryl did not realize that they had made it all the way to the fence, so there was no more room for them to get away. Daryl managed to take out two of them while Beth took out the sixth. Catching their breath, they started to walk out of the dead end they were trapped in, but the walkers from inside the garage must have heard the commotion, causing them to also come around the corner where the survivors were. Daryl and Beth stopped dead in their tracks. They were not prepared for this. They were too under armed. They were too out of breath from the unexpected attack. Beth didn't know if they were going to make it, and Daryl was beginning to have his doubts.

They prepared themselves, taking a deep breath and readying their weapons. The walkers; growling and limping toward them slowly, ready to dig their rotting teeth into the living flesh. Daryl strikes the first walker, taking him down with one hit. Unfortunately while Daryl was doing that, Beth was also in the process of taking out a walker, leaving Daryls back uncovered. A walker came up behind him just as he was finishing his last walker. He was grabbed by the arm and pushed to the ground, his back up against the storage unit across from the window they had escape out of. Using the flat side of the wrench, Daryl shoved it in the walkers mouth to avoid getting bit by pushing it away. The walker, mouth full of metal, was chomping furiously, his hands having a strong grip on Daryl vest.

PHEW!

The walker attached to Daryls vest was dead, falling to the side and loosening its grip on Daryls vest. A Sword went through another walker. It was Carl and Michonne. Carl ran to Beth and helped her with the walker that was coming toward her and Michonne grabbed Daryl and helped him up.

"We have to go. Now. " Running out of the corner they were trapped in for a while, they saw that the rest of the walkers that had broken down the doors were now coming back out due to the sound of the gun going off.

"Wait!, this way!" Daryl did not want to leave without getting the van they had stocked with so much useful equipment so he lead the group to where they were once camping, thinking that all the walkers should be down by the garage. He was right. Luckily enough there were only a few stragglers but Daryl was able to get into the van with ease, Carl slammed the back door of the van shut and Beth ran inside the unit they were staying in to grab the last box of supplies. Now with all of them in the car they sped to the entrance.

"Just down this road about 20 minutes is a car that Glenn and Maggie are waiting at. We didn't bring the bus down here because we ran into a herd of walkers. We parked it somewhere hidden about an hour from here. " Michonne said looking forward, clutching the car armrest.

The sun was gone now, A half moon hung high in the sky surrounded by speckles of tiny stars. The car was silent. They had been driving about 30 minutes now and had yet to come across Glenn and Maggie.

"So-what happen to you guys?" Beth asked curiously, looking into the front seat towards Michonne and glancing at Carl next to her.

"Dad and I left the prison on foot. He was in pretty bad shape." Carl started turning to Beth as he spoke. "We found an abandon house and took shelter there for a day. Started heading to the storage area when Michonne and the rest of them came behind us." He turned back, facing the front. "We still haven't found Tyreese or the girls, but they put Judith on the bus before they ran off again."

"After we found them we decided to still come see if you had made it to the safe spot. We had Maggie and Glenn stay back while we traveled to see if the coast was clear. Obviously it wasn't." Michonne said to Daryl.

'yeah well it's a good thing ya'll came when ya did." Daryl said back to her. "Don't think we woulda made it outa there."

"Why haven't we seen them yet." Michonne asked, more or less to herself. She sat up straight in her seat as Daryl began to slow down the car. "Something isn't right."

They continued forward. The street slowly turned into a dirt road as the approached what seemed to be a small town.

"We must have gone the wrong way." Michonne said shortly. You could see it in her eyes that she was ashamed at the fact that she may have told them to go the wrong way. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe they ran into trouble, had to find safety." Carl said leaning forward to the middle console to see where the headlights were guiding them, his statement causing him to sound an awful lot like his father.

Daryl squinted his eyes to see a little bit farther than the lights would allow, he wanted to avoid turning the brights on just in case a pack of walkers were lurking somewhere close as they rolled into the abandon town.

"Hold up." Daryl killed the car and turned the lights off. They sat in confusion in the middle of the small town. Beth looked curiously out of her window and could make out what use to be a local movie theater across from her side of the car.

"What're we doi-" She started but was quickly silenced by Daryl with a quick "shh"

"listen." He whispered harshly.

The car went quiet. All ears were perked, listening to the silence of the darkness.

Just then the sound of grumbling was able to be heard. As though there were a pack of walkers trapped in one place, and very upset about it. They listened for a second to the sounds of the dead. You could hear them snapping their jaws, as though they were trying to bite something. Some of them were so rattled that they were growling and moaning constantly, as if yelling in anger. The sounds of the walkers were quickly over powered by the very unsettling sound a female scream. She sounded desperate and terrified, most of all she sounded alive.

It took the group about 10 seconds to realize what they had heard. Michonne looked at Daryl with shock in her eyes, as though trying to ask him what they should do even though she knew it was too dark for him to see them.

Frantically Beth practically screamed. "That could be Maggie! We have to go!" That was that. They got out of the car and opened the back of the van, quickly grabbing the flashlights they had previously packed. Daryl had, of course, grabbed his crossbow and armed himself with 10 arrows, preparing himself for what could be out there. Michonne had her Katana, and Carl and Beth armed themselves with sharpened knives, as well as loaded guns just in case they needed them.

"That don't sound too far from where we are now." Daryl said roughly after everyone had armed themselves and gathered behind the van. "I'd guess bout two blocks down that way." He pointed to the left of him. They glanced down the alley that was separating a drug store and an ice cream shop, leading into the back yards of small houses that were slowly being swallowed by wild vines and weeds. They kept close and quickly but consciously moved down the alley.

There was an old flakey white garage next to a small brown house about 2 ½ blocks down, just as Daryl had said, with about ten walkers banging on the wooden door as well as the automatic door, causing the shattering sound to echo throughout the town.

"ya'll ready?" Daryl questioned. He looked around to them and could see their heads nod in the moonlight.

They quietly approached the walkers, sneaking up without being heard. Daryl from a short range shot 3 walkers in a row with his bow. Luckily the other walkers were making enough noise to not be distracted at the sounds of corpses dropping. Michonne swiftly took the head off of two walkers who were a little farther back from the garage as Daryl retrieved his arrows and reloaded his crossbow with the already bloody arrows. Carl managed to sneak up behind a slow banging walker and stabbed straight through the side of his head. He could see Beth on the other side of the garage doing the same thing. The last walkers were taken out by Daryl as they all ran to the door of the garage, dragging the bodies out of the way. Michonne stood with her side to the door, hand on the handle, and her eyes on Daryl hoping to be able to see his signal in the moonlight. He nodded to her, picking up his last arrow and loading it into his bow. They prepared themselves for what could be in there.

Michonne knocked on the door, hoping that the girl who screamed was still inside.

"MAGGIE?!" Beth shouted through the door, but there continued to be silence on the other side.

"Back up." Daryl said as he stepped little bit away from the door. With force he then kicked the door open, causing whatever was blocking it shut to fall with a loud CRASH.

The Garage was still silent inside. They readied their flashlights and weapons and sprung into the room, ready for anything that could possibly pop out. They could hear soft whimpering coming from the center of the garage. Daryl and Michonne shined their flashlights in the direction of the soft crying.

There was a girl sitting on her knees in a pool of blood, clutching the body of a middle aged man. Her head was tilted down looking at the man, who was bleeding profusely out of his neck.

"Please!" she sobbed as her body was shaking, her eyes only glancing at the group. "Please! You have to help him!"


	4. 4 Riley

**Heeyyyy! Here is the 4****th**** chapter, its kind of a continuation of the first chapter, Took a little longer to get out there than I thought, work and school and such. But I WILL have this story finished by feb 9****th****. I will, or I will be sad.**

**Thanks for sticking with me! Id love some feedback**

_Chapter 4_

_Riley_

"_SO lil sister, how long ya gon be in town fer? Or did ya take a wrong turn and accidently end up back home?" Merle chuckled like the smart ass he was, taking a drink of his beer. Daryl looked at his sister anxiously, expecting her to say she was only passing through._

_Riley looked down for a second and smiled. "I uh.." she paused, sipping on her drink. "I'm actually gonna be here for a while…" She looked up and glanced at her brothers, drinking her drink a little faster to avoid continuing her story. _

"_Oh yeah?" Daryl said shortly. "whys that?" Riley never came around. Ever since She was 16 and ran away from this town._

_*6 years earlier*_

"_Fuck you!" She screamed as her back barricaded the bedroom door, sobbing profusely._

"_You better open this damn door girl, ya hear me?!" an enraged voice shouted from the other side of the door, fists pounding roughly on the wood. "OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!"_

"_LEAVE ME ALONE!" she sobbed, palms cold and sweaty, but flat on the ground with her nails digging into the wood of the floor, causing them to break and bleed as her feet were pressed firmly on the ground, pushing herself against the door the keep the intruder from breaking in. _

"_NOW LISTEN HERE YA LITTLE BITCH, IF YA DON OPEN THIS HERE DOOR IMMA MAKE YOU WISH YA NEVER BEEN BORN, YA HEAR ME?!" he continued to pound heavily on the door, each knock causing Rileys heart to pound harder and harder. He was drunk again. He was probably denied a hand job by a local at the bar, or they could have cut him off before he was drunk enough to no longer fight with the other drunks in that pigpen._

"_Please just go away…" she cried softly, not expecting her father to hear her plea. She had been asleep when she heard him stumble into the house, cussing up a storm at the air that was in his way, causing him to trip over nothing. Riley had instantly jumped up and slammed her door shut when she heard him mention her name in a drunken slur. Everything was her fault when he was drunk, hell, everything was her fault when he was sober._

_There was a sudden pause. The pounding stopped from the other side of the door and the heavy breathing and yelling from the angry drunk subsided. Riley listened hard, eyes shifting chaotically as her breath was stuck in her throat, waiting for him to start yelling again._

_*CRACK!*_

_Riley was thrown out of the way of the door to the ground as it was ferociously kicked open. She quickly dragged herself away from the opening, stopping only when she reached her bed side. He approached her slowly, removing his belt, as she coward on the ground softly pleading for him not to do anything._

"_The fuck did I tell ya little girl?" He cracked his belt in his hand._

_*end*_

"_You in some kind of trouble or something?" Daryl asked, losing all enthusiasm in his voice as he gave his sister a blank stare._

"_No!" she snapped, looking offended. "I just missed you guys ya know…? Its been too long and I just.. I don't know. I wanted to see you guys." She stumbled over her words. Leaving a very unconvinced Daryl._

"_Cut the crap Ri. What're ya here for?" Daryl snapped, leaning forward to avoid shouting at her._

"_Ho hooo, now now little brother. lets not get nasty. Our baby sister is here! Lets just enjoy getting shit faced-" he finished off his beer. "- and we'll talk it out in the mornin." Merle looked from Daryl to Riley as he poured himself another beer from the pitcher. Daryl let his glare at Riley last a little longer before he sighed and looked away out of frustration, dropping the argument for now._

_Merle didn't get it. He was hardly around when Riley was growing up. It wasn't their father taking care of her. It wasn't her mother taking care of her. It wasn't merle. It was Daryl. Daryl thought of riley as a daughter more than a sister. He raised her. He taught her everything he knew, he would even dare to say she was almost as good of hunter as he was. Almost. He never wanted to take care of her. In fact Daryl hated her when she was born. A ten year old who had just lost his mother in a fire, now having a new little sibling from a woman he barely knew, but was staying in his house bossing him around and telling him how to act? He wasn't okay with that. He hated the sound of Riley crying, he hated how his father and this woman would just sit in at the crappy circle table in the kitchen, drinking beers and shooting up, as this brand new innocent baby girl cried in a baby carrier for food and attention. _

_Daryl remembers the day he fell in love with this little baby, She was only 3 months old. His father and her mother, Tammy, were both passed out in their room. It had to of been at least 2 days that they had been sleeping, coming down from their meth high. Riley was in her car seat in the living room like usual, screaming at the top of her lungs, sitting in a gruesome 2 day old filthy diaper, her little belly grumbling from hunger. He had just walked in from school, sitting in his room he shared with merle, trying to concentrate on homework, even though he really never bothered with it. He never really bothered to look at riley either, Not once since she was born. He tried to ignore her, usually by leaving the house and doing other things. This time was different though, the sounds of her piercing screams were driving him mad, he nearly punched through his window. He had had it, he swung his door open, causing it to hit the wall behind it, leaving a hole from the door knob. Daryl stomped right up to the car seat Riley was laying in. He grabbed each side of the car seat, preparing to scream in her face to stop. _

_But he didn't, the second he grabbed the car seat he looked into her puffy red eyes, small tears rolling down her cheeks, her tiny little bottom lip poking out, making a pouty face. She was looking at him like he was her hero, her cries stopped when she saw him. The sight of her brought a tear to his eye. His heart melted in that moment. And it was that moment that he knew that he couldn't let anything bad happen to her._

_*six years earlier*_

_The night was warm, but the breeze was cool, cool enough to send a chill down Daryls back as he approached his childhood home. He stopped a few feet from it and examined it, noticing all the lights were on. Daryl cocked his head curiously but shrugged it off his shoulders and continued to move toward the house. He approached the door and took a deep breath, letting out a long sigh before turning the handle. Opening the door the only thing he could here were things crashing against the wall, as if they were being thrown. He cautiously closed the door and walked through the kitchen, leading to the hallway of the bedrooms. Rileys door was half way hanging off its hinges, with 2 huge cracks down the middle as though it had been kicked really hard. He could see in the light shadows of objects being thrown across the room. *CRASH!* he saw a lamp fly across one side to the other and shatter on the wall._

"_Riley?" he questioned as he slowly approached her room, still unable to see the cause of the flying objects. _

_The shuffling and rummaging sounds stopped. He lightly pushed her door open to reveal her standing by her bed, her back to him. There were clothes everywhere, books scattered across the room, broken picture frames lay against the wall on all sides of her room. There were rips in the already tattered wall paper from where glass was thrown. She stood very still, with one hand on a suitcase that was sitting on her bed._

"_What the hell happened?" Daryl asked looking around her room in shock, taking in everything that he was seeing._

"_whats it matter." She replied flatly, still standing like stone. Daryl looked at the back of her head in in disbelief. _

"_Whats it matter? Riley you destroyed your room, shits everywhere. Is that fuckin blood on your ceiling?" he asked pointing to a splatter of blood above him in amazement. _

"_this isn't my room anymore Daryl, Im leavin." She began to move again and proceeded to shove the things she wanted in her suitcase and toss the less important items behind her, literally. _

_Daryl ducked and dodged as the items she was aimlessly throwing were coming toward him._

"_Leavin? The hell you mean ya leavin?" he demanded trying to walk to her without getting hit. She whipped around, glaring at him with tears in her eyes. He could see he was bleeding from her nose, and tomorrow her eye would be more black than it already was. From what the giant winter coat she was wearing over her pajamas wasn't covering, he could see dried up smears of blood on her. His entire facial expression softened at the sight of her._

"_Riley what happened to you?" he asked with great concern in his voice as he rushed to her side and put his hands on her shoulders. She yanked herself from his grasped and stepped away from him, fire burning in her watery eyes._

"_What the fuck do you think happened." She asked bluntly, burning a hole in his with her eyes. He was slightly stunned by her response, he had never seen such hatred in his sisters eyes before._

"_wha-i..uh" he was at a loss of words. "Riley.." was all he could say._

"_WHAT DARYL. What? What are you gonna say, huh?" she took small angry steps toward him, causing him to take careful steps away from her as she got close. "you gonna tell me its gonna be ok? That he is gonna get his? BULLSHIT DARYL!" she sobbed for a split second than regained her heated composure. "It's not gonna be okay daryl. It's not. I cant fucking be here anymore. DO YOU HEAR ME?! I CAN'T FUCKING DO THIS ANYMORE!" she screamed in his face. He was completely flabbergasted. Riley turned back to her suitcase and began to shove more items into the old used bag._

"_Where the hell ya gonna go, huh? You're 16. Aint nothing good out there for ya." He said in a tough voice, letting everything that just happen sink in, causing him to become stubborn and upset. "ya better off just stayin here Riley" _

_She turned around furiously. " How the hell can you say that Daryl? Seriously. You, of all fucking people?" he took a step closer to her, so his face was in hers, as a form of dominance. _

"_trust me. Ain't nothing but pigs out there."_

"_aint nothing but pigs here either." She looked at him with hatred, sadness, and hurt in her eyes. Quickly she shut her bag and darted out the door._

_Daryl could remember the night she left like it was yesterday. He often dreamt about it. He regretted it. He was always thinking that he should have ran after his sister but somewhere in the back of his head he knew she wasn't safe there anymore, he just wanted her to stay so he could keep an eye on her. 'didn't do a very good job at that either' he thought as he would sulk when the thought could pop into his head. After a week of not seeing his sister it finally sunk in that she wasn't going to come back, that she was really gone. He spent weeks looking for her, asking people if they had seen her, or if anyone had talked to her. Riley Dixon had fallen off the map, off the face of the earth. _


	5. 5 Missing pieces

**It sure does make me happy to see that I have some followers! Thank you so much you guys! It really inspires me to continue writing :D**

"Please!" she cried with her whole body, her eyes now full of helplessness. "HE'S DYING!" she sobbed into his chest.

"Daryl that man is already dead." Michonne whispered as she leaned over to Dary, her eyes adjusting just enough to see the mans head hanging over the girls arm with his mouth half open, his body limp on the ground.

The man appeared to be in his late 30's early 40's, guessing by the small traces of gray in his hair. From what could be seen in the poor light and through the blood was that he was wearing a light plaid long sleeved shirt with a blood soaked white tee underneath it, finished off by normal boot cut jeans. The girl cluthing him couldn't of been a day over 16. Her light pink full length flower dress soaking in the red pool she sat in, her Strawberry blonde hair sticking to her jean jacket which was also full of blood, caused by the dead mans wound.

"Listen here little girl, ya need to let go of that dead guy and get away from it as fast as ya can, ya hear me?" Daryl commanded, arrow aimed straight for the dead mans head just in case.

"HE ISNT DEAD! He isn't dead!" she continued to repeat as she clutched the corpse even closer to her, rocking back and forth with it.

"We have to get her away from him!" Beth shouted, not knowing what to do. Michonne moved quickly toward the girl and grabbed her from behind, pulling her by her shoulders in attempt to separate the two.

"listen here little girl, you need to let this man go before he changes, do you understand me?" Michonne said Sternly to the girl, still trying to pull her off.

"no! no! he is still alive! Please..please help him!' she tightened her grip around the man. "da-add" she sobbed into him. "it's gonna be okay dad…please wake up."

Michonne paused for a second after hearing the girl talk to her deceased father, as though the sound of a child crying to their parent sent a splinter through her heart. she snapped back into reality when she heard Daryls annoyed voice echo through-out the garage.

"The heck ya doin? Get'er off him! Kid! You gotta let the dead guy go before he bites your head off!" Daryl circled the three of them looking for a good head shot, but the girl had now cradled his head into her lap, protecting him with her body.

"She's got a death grip on him Daryl, CARL! Come help me!" Michonne shouted, nodding to Carl to join her side. Carl darted over to them and kneeled down next to the girl.

"Hey, hey.. listen to me. You need to let him go, okay? He is in a better and safer place now alright?" Carl tried to coo her to let him go, but also slipping his hands around the bottom half of the corpse, preparing to pull him out from under her if she refused to let him go she continued to keep her death grip on the corpse, leaving Carl to try to pull the body away from her with no avail.

"shes holdin him too close! I can't get a safe shot without hittin one of ya'll!" Daryl shouted, still trying to find a decent hit. Sweat rolling down his dirty forehead as his breath quickened with anxiety.

"KID! Get the hell out the way!"

There was a sudden grumble coming from the girls lap. She stopped her crying and the room went quiet.

"Daddy…?" she questioned as she raised her head. Colorless eyes looked back at her as a gurgling sound came from the newly changed walkers mouth. Within seconds there was a great SNAP! And then a shriek. The walker rose with great force, wrapping his bloody jaws around the girls arm and ripping her flesh right off her arm. She screamed in pain and jolted back. Beth screamed and covered her mouth, rushing to carls side to pull him away from the walker as michonne grabbed the injured girl away from him and pulled her to the other side, leaning her against the wall. Daryl took this opportunity to instantly shoot the walker with his bow the second the girls were out of range.

There was a dark silence throughout the garage. Heavy breathing was the only thing that could be heard along with their hearts pounding out of their chests. Daryl looked from the dead walker to Carl, who was still on the ground in front of beth, her hands still on his shoulders.

"you alright?" he asked as he grabbed his arrow from the walkers head. Carl nodded and looked over to michonne, whos back was facing them as her gaze laid directly on the girl unconscious against the wall. Daryl slowly approached her, eyes landing on the girl. Within the time Daryl had shot and killed the walker, michonne had dragged the poor girl to the otherside, and amputated her arm and wrapped it with a piece of her own tattered shirt, to prevent the risk of infection. Michonne looked from the passed out girl on the ground, her now bloody stump dripping from the soaked cloth, to daryl.

"We have to get her out of here." Michonne said Calmly.

Blood spurted out of Jimmy Jones mouth as Daryls fist collided with his face. Jimmy stumbled backwards and grabbed his jaw. Daryl backed up as Jimmy stumbled forward. BAM! Daryls fist collided with his jaw again, then again for a third time.

"The hell did you do to my sister Jimmy Jones?!" by this time a small crowd of careless people gathered around the two boys fighting outside the local burger and milkshake joint. He hit him again.

"DARYL! Daryl man! I'm sorry, really I am!" jimmy Jones pleaded in a strong southern accent.

"Sorry aint gonna take that bruise off her arm now is it? the hell you doin datin a 15 year old anyways jimmy? Let alone Riley Dixon? You know damn well who her brothers are." They were circling eachother, jimmy ducking and dodging Daryls swings the best that he could.

" I –I didn't mean it Daryl! I swear man! it was an accident!" Jimmy cried still covering his mouth, stammering away from Daryl the best he could.

"Don't cha ever just get sick of bitches man? sometimes they just make ya snap man, ya know what im saying?" jimmy tried to create a relatable situation to distract daryls anger. Daryl stopped walking around Jimmy and dropped his fists. Jimmy let out a short sigh of relief, letting his guard down thinking that daryl was letting him off the hook. There was a short pause, By standers stood in silence, waiting for daryls response.

"You just don't know when to shut the fuck up do you?" with that he knocked Jimmy off his feet to the ground with one punch. Lights out.

***later on that night***

"The hell did you do that for daryl?" Riley demanded, keeping her eyes focused hard on the dishes she was doing in front of her. Since that afternoon incident with daryl and jimmy, riley had not said one word to daryl, but had kept herself locked in her room until she was demanded to cook dinner by her father. Daryl was sitting in the living room, eyes glued to the t.v. as he watched a fishing show with his father sitting in the lazy boy next to the couch, being useless. He looked up from the t.v. in the direction of Rileys voice, getting up from his seat with attitude and moving toward her.

"The hell do you mean why did I do that?" he snarled, looking Riley dead in the eye." you know damn well why I did it."

"It wasn't any of your business Daryl, why the hell don't you mind your own." She snapped at him and turned back to her dishes. Daryl grabbed the rag from her and spun her back around to face him. He then grabbed her right around and twisted it slightly, revealing a bruise in the shape of a hand on her upper arm.

"That's why Riley, don't act like some dumb bimbo. The fuck you doin with that Jimmy Jones douche bag anyways? He is 18 riley, you are 15. Why don't you hang out with some boy He then grabbed her right around and twisted it slightly, revealing a bruise in the shape of a hand on her upper arm.

"That's why Riley, don't act like some dumb bimbo. The fuck you doin with that Jimmy Jones douche bag anyways? He is 18 riley, you are 15. Why don't you hang out with some boy your own age?"

Riley was slightly shocked by daryls physical reaction, but quickly masked it back with anger. "who the hell do you think you are? My father? I don't need you down my neck tellin me what to do. I can make my own damn choices."

"Clearly you cant when you're makin dumb ass choices like goin out with Jimmy Jones. Mans a scum bag."

"Stay the hell out of my life daryl, its not your business."

Her saying that must have hit Daryl where it hurt. How dare she, daryl nearly gave up his entire life to make sure she stayed alive in the hell hole they called a home. He became very angry, he put his hands on either side of her, blocking her from moving from the sink.

"none of my business?" he said in a whisper before raising his voice. "EVERYTHING YOUDO IS MY BUSINESS. Who the hell you think raised you? Me! I'd be damned if I see I'd be damned if I see you throw the last 14 years ive been workin my ass off for you by getting knocked up by some asshole that will prolly end up just that that worthless shit!" he shouted at her and motioning to their father sitting away from them, glued to the screen and not worrying about what his children were fighting about.

Riley looked at daryl with a disgusted snarl. She then pushed him hard out of her way and darted down the hall to her room, slamming the door and locking it behind her. Daryl sighed in frustration and walked toward her door. Standing outside and leaning against the door frame he began to apologize.

"Riley, damn it Im sorry alright. I know ya don't really get what im sayin. But the guy is no good and he deserved an ass beatin." He waited for a response but all he received was silence.

"to hell with ya then!" he shouted through the door in frustration and stormed back to the living room.

They had arrived back at camp. Maggie and Glenn were still nowhere to be found. Beth began to isolate herself from the rest of the group, barely speaking to anyone with the exception of Judith. The girl whos arm was sacrificed in order to save her life was still unconscious, but she was stable. Daryl was thankful for being reunited with the group, but finding a safe place again was going to be an issue.

"we could try going north, see if there are any small towns we could make safe, secure. The governor had the right idea with salvaging woodbury, ill give him that." Rick stated leaning on a walking stick for support as what was left of the council gathered around a map they had laid out in one of the tents that had been set up temporarily.

"Maggie and Glenn are still out there, I think we should try to look for them before anything." Daryl said as he was sharpening the knives. Rick nodded in agreement.

"We will set up a group system, get some of the other woodbury survivors involved. Get more areas covered safely." Rick added. "Daryl, I think you or michonne should stay here just in case the girl wakes up. So she can know what happened." Daryl nodded in agreement and looked to Michonne who was looking at rick.

"Well?" Daryl said looking at Michonne.

"what do you want to flip a coin or something?" she said in a jokingly tone. Daryl snorted and walked away, knowing that he was going to be the one to stay behind to tend to the girl.


	6. 6 familiar faces

**Here is the 6****th**** chapter. I'm very happy with all the views I have been getting, I'm not sure if they mean people are reading it but I assume they are and it warms my heart. you all inspire me :D**

**Also I am clearly not updating every day, I use to not be so busy. Im trying tho!**

**This chapter is also from different points of views, kind of.**

'_The roads seem a lot colder when you are traveling alone ' _She thought as she adjusted her backpack and trudged along the side of the gravel road she had been following for some time now. _' So much for that car._' She snorted. She had to of been walking for a good 2 days, ever since her vehicle decided to quit on her only after 2 hours of driving it, ducking in old barns and locking herself in abandon houses. Luckily enough she was in the middle of nowhere, and had yet to come across large herds of walkers.

The hot sun was beaming down on her as she was turning a narrow corner in the road, letting her know the time was about noon. Covering her eyes with her hands she noticed a town in the distance. _'great.' _She thought, stopping in her tracks. Putting her backpack down on the ground, she opened it and retrieved her machete. _'well.. at least I have this.'_ She sighed and looked forward, bracing herself for the fact that this town may just be overrun. She fearlessly entered the town. Cautiously cutting through the alley leading to a main street, she decided she was going to scour the town, looking for a new car, and maybe some more supplies. _'Like some bullets or something.'_ She thought, thinking of her revolver in her backpack with an empty chamber.

She came around to the front of the first house she approached. Peeking through the window to see if the coast was clear, she slowly turned the knob to enter. The house seemed untouched, as though this house was merely abandoned, not attacked. The furniture was still placed neatly in each area of the house, the only way you could tell that the home was no longer being used was from the dust and cobwebs that had made their place in the corners and cracks. Once she sensed that there was no danger within the house she instantly began her ransacking. She was able to find canned goods, medicines, and even a few weapon worthy objects. Packing up her newly found items and creating an easy access hole for her machete in case she needed more room for materials, she secured her bag and moved on to the next house. Finding only minimal items in the once loved and adored homes she looked through, she decided she was going to try a few more houses before looking for a car to get her somewhere safe before the sun went down. _'This town is quiet.'_ She thought to herself has she hiked up a hill leading to the front of an old paint chipped building. '_a little too quiet..' _this thought popped in her head just as she turned the corner leading to the front of the old establishment. She stopped dead in her tracks and immediately backed up back around the corner and kneeled to the ground, peeking around the corner.

There was a small pack of walkers staggering in the street, some were not even moving, just standing aimlessly in the wherever the pleased as if they didn't have a thought or care in the world. She pulled her machete back out from its easy access pocket her had created before leaving the last house. She then looked closely to figure out how many walkers she was dealing with. _'one, two, three..' _her eyes darted to the other side of the street_. 'four, five, six.."_ she leaned forward around the bush that was blocking her from the walkers. _'seven, eig-'_ a stick snapped from underneath her foot. _'Shit..'_ was her only thought when the walker closest to her looked back and began to stumble in her direction. She slowly backed up more preparing her machete to whack the walker in the head. Unfortunately when this specific biter began to move a little faster, it caused a few others to become curious as to why, and they began to follow suit. The first walker came around the corner and with a quick swipe of her machete he fell to the ground, face split open. She looked down with accomplishment at the permanently dead man was on the ground. The look on her face quickly changed as 3 more walkers came around the same corner. She backed up a little more quickly as they began to speed down the hill, growling furiously at her. Panic shot through her body as she began to worry about what she was going to do. She looked to her right toward the house and noticed an entrance to what was most likely a basement. Taking her chances, she ran to see if It was unlocked; it was. Falling backward inside the door she quickly slammed it shut and turned the deadbolt just as the walkers had caught up to her. The angry dead were biting and banging at the door as she looked them in the eye through the window, sighing in relief. _'This door isn't going to hold them for long._' She thought, looking around the basement she ended up in for something to block the door, just for a little bit. There were laundry baskets filled with sheets, as well as dusty extras folded on the shelves of the walls. She began to shuffle around the room, examining the things around her. She walked over to one side of the room which had 2 washing Machines as well as two dryers. She sighed at the sound of the walkers still banging on the wooden door, putting her weapon back in its holster she stretched her arms and struggled to drag one of the dryer in front of the door. _'that outa hold them for a little bit.' _She thought as she dusted her hands off. She turned around to see if there was a way leading out of the laundry room she figured she was in, she noticed a small dark staircase in the wall opposite of her and walked toward it_._ *CRASH* she stopped in place has she heard the glass of the door shatter. _'Or not.'_ She thought and quickened her pace up the stairs.

The stairs lead to the end of a narrow hallway. The walls were lined with hideous pastel flower wallpaper and cobwebs. She looked both ways, determining which one would lead her to safety. To her left was a dead end, unless she wanted to jump out of the window, but to her right she could see that if she continued on that way she would reach a small desk placed to the left of what appeared to be a wrap around stair case, leading farther upstairs. The woman ventured on, passing an "employees restroom only" as well as an office which was swallowed in darkness. She reached the desk and curiously looked down at the torn papers left there. She picked up a brochure and blew the dust off. "Far From Home Motel" she looked around and began to see that she was indeed in a hotel, probably once a glorious home for an old family long ago. For a moment, as she was admiring the oak wood and antique designs of such a marvelous building, she forgot that her life was in constant danger. Her eyes became lost in the posts of the stairs, carved elegantly with roses and their leaves. She was a sucker for Victorian homes, they reminded her of her home, back when life was safe. Difficult, but safe.

She was brought back to reality when she heard a loud BANG! Her eyes darted down the hall from where she came from_. 'They must have gotten through.'_ She thought, picturing the dryer that most likely was pushed over and out of the way. She grabbed the post she was previously admiring and darted up the stairs as she saw the arm of a walker grab the archway of the door leading downstairs. She swiftly made her way down one of the halls that lead to the motels guestrooms. Not worrying about which room she entered, she quickly swung a random room door open, stealthily closing the door and slowly backing away from it. She stared hard at the door, as though the harder she stared it down the better she would be able to tell if the biters heard where she went. She stopped abruptly in her backwards steps as she was slightly poked harshly in the back by something very sharp and pointed. Her heart sank as the color in her face faded. _'that's a knife!'_ she panicked. Holding her breath she slowly tried to reach for the machete, only to have the sharp object shoved harder into her back, nearly puncturing it. She put her hands up in surrender and slowly began to turn around to face the last person the thought she was ever going to see. Her breath quickened as she came closer to facing him. Her eyes were low, her life began to flash inside her mind; Her home, which she had made her own with small crafts and knick knacks, her Daughter, who was no longer here, but was the high light of her memories for the first time in months, the strength she gained since the out beak, and the fact that even though she was weaponless, she wasn't prepared to go down without a fight. Raising her eyes, she felt as though her entire body was hit by lightening, her heart raced and she could no longer breathe. All she was able to do was stare in shock at the man with the crossbow in front of her.

"Carol?" Daryl asked in disbelief, still steadily holding his crossbow at her. She said nothing, merely staring at him in complete shock. He realized he was still aiming his weapon in her direction and quickly lowered it, stepping slightly closer to her.

"..Carol?" he asked again. Dropping her bag, She ran to the scruffy looking man, wrapping her arms around him with tears coming to her eyes.

"Daryl! Oh my god Daryl!" she kissed him on the cheek and continued to squeeze him, he slowly reacted and began to hug her back. "I thought I would never see you again." She whispered, still in disbelief.

"Follow me." He said pulling away from the hug. "I can get us out of here." Grabbing her hand as she grabbed her bag her pulled her through the room door connecting to the next one. Climbing through that rooms' window they made their way down the short fire escape, quietly getting out of the range of the hungry walkers scouring the motel.

There was a moment of silence as they walked through the other side of the town, towards where Daryl had hidden the vehicle he had taken there.

"small world huh?" Carol said, glancing at him and breaking the awkward silence between them. "Us being in the same town, in the same room?"

"Did you kill Karen?" Daryl didn't hesitate to look her dead in the eye and stop walking.

"yes." She said cautiously, but with a certainty to it, also stopping to face Daryl. He looked at her, the expression on his face told her that he was disappointed but also didn't want to believe her. He took his gaze off her and began to walk again, only at a faster pace.

"Am I going back to the prison with you?" She questioned, still standing still. Daryl stopped in his tracks.

"There isn't a prison anymore." He answered, not bothering to turn around.

Her eyes grew as she moved to catch up to where he was standing. "No prison? What happened? Where are the others?"

"Michonne and Carl found me and Beth. Rick is with em. Maggie and Glenn are missin, that's why I am here. We been lookin for em for a good 3 days. Up and disappeared apparently." He said as he began to walk at a steady pace so Carol was able to keep up.

"And the others?" she questioned, mainly thinking of Mika and Lily, the two little girls she had began to care for.

"There are still a few woodbury survivors with us. We don't know where tyreese is, and we think those two little girls were with him." Carols eyes saddened." Sasha is with us, shes here in this town lookin wit me." A small hint of remorse filled his eyes as he looked down. "Hershel is gone." He said quietly.

"What?" Carol said as her voice cracked in awe. "what happened!?"

"Gove'nr." Daryls face went from upset to enraged, furrowing his brow as his steps got harder. "Came to the prison, destroyed everythin, had Michonne and Hershel kept up, killed him right in front of all ofus, 'cludin Beth and Maggie. Bombed everythin.. walkers took over. We were all separated." Daryls voice trailed off as they came toward an old Chevy truck with a young yet tired looking woman leaning up against it.

"Any luck?" Daryl shouted to her, using his hand to make his voice trail louder to her.

"is that Carol?" ignoring Daryls question as she straightened up and squinted her eyes to see if they were deceiving her.

"yeah, it is." Daryl sternly replied, letting her know that there wasn't going to be a discussion about it just yet. "Any luck?"

"No.." she sighed " you know don't understand, how the hell do two well armed people just disappear? Car and all? It just doesn't make any damn sense" Sasha ranted as she helped Daryl put his and Carols bag in the back of the truck. "I did find some things we could use though." She smiled at the positive news she was able to give. They all piled into the truck and began to leave the town, just as the sun was going down.

Carol looked out the window with a slight discomfort. "So what's going to happen to me?" she questioned, still gazing outside.

After a short silence of not really knowing out to respond Daryl said "we will figure that out In the morning, till then you will be staying, aint leavin you out here on your own again, specially at night."

"_So why ya here Riley?" Daryl questioned the passed out girl buried under blankets on his couch. Sipping on a cup of coffee he had just freshly made._

"_Jesus Daryl, when Merle said we would talk about this in the morning I didn't think you took him seriously." She muttered as she groggily glanced up at the man in gray plaid sweatpants and a black beater through the makeshift peep hole in her blanket. Daryl smirked and turned around to the counter he was leaning on, pulling out a second cup of coffee and handing it to her. Riley wrestled with her blankets for a second to retrieve her hot and tasty beverage. _

"_Mmm cooofffeee." She said in a heavenly voice. "one of the best cures for a hangover." She sat up and smiled to her brother, cheers-ing her coffee mug against his. He smiled shortly and took a seat in the lazy boy that was beside the couch._

"_so why ya here Riley?" he asked again._

"_Seriously Daryl? You haven't seen me in how long and all you care about is why I am in your face right now? Good to know you haven't missed me at all." She snottily snarled as she took a sip of her coffee._

"_Cut the shit Ri. Don't act stupid. We both know you are better than that petty bullshit."_

"_Okay. Okay.. fine." She sighed and lowered her coffee cup. Her expression changed from peppy and upbeat to serious and worried. This was the Riley Daryl knew, he had a feeling something was up. His sister wasn't like most people. She was smart, observant. She was an excellent hunter and she had very high survival skills, which were able to help her in the real world, dealing with real people. _

"_I've just.. I don't know. I haven't really been feeling myself lately. Its like something is missing in my life and I don't know what it is. I tried everything. I changed jobs over a dozen times this year. Ive tried relationships. Shit I even considered a baby, but then i talked some sense into myself and that thought quickly left my head." She chuckled. " and then I thought of you guys. My brothers, My real family. Thinking of you two just gave me such a happy feeling , I just feel like I need to spend some time with you both ya know? Like, something bad is going to happen, like I dont have that much time left to spend with you guys, so I have to now…..does that make sense at all?" she asked curiously, realizing that she had just gotten lost in her own story._

"_like what the world is gonna end or something?" Daryl asked, not really understanding where she was coming from._

"_pff, no nothing stupid like that. I don't know, it was just a feeling."_

"_well it musta been a pretty strong feelin to make you come back to this place." Daryl snorted as he took a sip of his coffee._

"_haha.. yeah.." her voice trailed off as she looked around Daryls small trailer. "Nice place ya got here… is it just you and Merle?" Daryl nodded. "I think I want to move back here, Daryl. I really do"_

_Daryls eyes brightened at the thought of being able to spend time with his little sister again. He sat up straight in his chair, nearly spilling his coffee down the front of him. "Do it ri, I'll help ya if ya want, with the movin and all."_

_She chuckled. "no no, that okay I don't have that much crap anyways. First I have to find a place to stay here."_

"_you can have Merles room, he is never here any how and when he is the couch is usually where he passes out." Daryl laughed as Rileys face turned to complete disgust at the thought of her Drunken older brother passed out on the couch she had just slept on._

"_if Merle doesn't throw a hissy fit, then its settled." She beamed. " I'll go get my things today and be back within the next few days!" she exclaimed excitedly, jumping off the couch and preparing herself for take-off._

"_Thank you Daryl. I think this is what I really need, familiar faces." _


End file.
